Outpouring of support amazes frat brothers

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The phones are ringing off the hook for Donnie Collins and his fraternity brothers after they raised $18,000 — and awareness — for the transgender sophomore.

What started as a fund-raiser at the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity at Emerson College has ballooned into a nationwide sensation.

“We’ve done everything we accomplished and we did so much more than we thought we could do,” said a proud, yet tired Phi Alpha Tau brother Christian Bergen-Aragon.

As the Herald reported yesterday, the frat brothers posted a video on a YouTube fundraising page with the intention of raising $4,800 to help pay for Donnie’s female-to-male “top surgery,” chest reconstruction that takes the tissue from the breasts. As of last night, the brothers have raised $18,000, and they still have 30 days left of the campaign.

“We are all overwhelmed and happy,” Bergen-Aragon said.

The story went viral, spreading to CNN, NBC, CBS and many other national platforms. While many of the websites got the terminology wrong, calling Donnie’s surgery a “sex change,” Bergen-Aragon says that just shows why this conversation needs to happen.

“It’s not upsetting to us,” the 19-year-old said. “It just motivates us even more to let people know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Donnie, 20, and his brothers say they are at their “wits’ end” with interviews.

After Donnie’s $8,100 surgery is completely paid for, the rest of the funds will go to the Jim Collins Foundation, an organization that provides financial assistance for gender reassignment surgeries.

“Right now, people have already funded another Donnie, another surgery,” said foundation co-founder and vice president Dru Levasseur.